1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facility management system and a facility management method for maintaining and inspecting electric facilities such as an air conditioning system installed in a building.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional facility management system. In FIG. 4, reference number 100 designates an owner of a building, 110 denotes one or more electric facilities installed in the building of the owner 100, 130 indicates an operation controller for controlling the entire operation of the electric facilities 110, and 120 designates an operation monitor device for monitoring the operation of the electric facilities 110 and transmitting monitor data items to outside.
Reference number 200 designates a facility maintenance company performing the maintenance and inspection for the electric facilities 110 installed in the building of the owner 100, and 210 denotes a remote monitor equipment installed in the facility maintenance company 200 for receiving the monitor data items transmitted from the operation monitor device 120 and detecting abnormal state of the electric facilities 110. Reference number 300 denotes an electric facility manufacture for manufacturing the electric facilities 110 and the operation controller 130 and selling them to the owner 100 of the building through a distributor (or through the facility maintenance company 200, for example), and 40 indicates a public telephone network connected to the operation monitor device 120 and the remote monitor equipment 210.
In the facility management system, in general, a plurality of the electric facilities 110 such as an air conditioning system are installed in each room and each floor in the building. The operation controller 130 controls the entire operation of the electric facilities 110. Because the electric facility manufacture 300 manufactures the electric facilities 110 and the operation controller 130, the electric facilities 110 have inherent communication protocols for controlling the operation thereof.
In general, because the facility maintenance company 200 maintains the operation monitor device 120 and the remote monitor device 210, where the operation monitor device 120 monitors the operation state of the electric facilities 110 and transmits the monitor data items through the communication network 40 and the remote monitor device 210 receives the monitor data items, the facility maintenance company 200 uses the inherent communication protocols between the operation monitor device 120 and the remote monitor device 210. Accordingly, in general, the communication protocols between the electric facilities 110 and the operation controller 130 manufactured by the electric facility manufacture 300 are different from the communication protocols between the operation monitor device 120 and the remote monitor device 210 supplied by the facility maintenance company 200.
Next, a description will now be given of the operation of the conventional facility management system.
The owner 100 of the building concludes a contract with the facility maintenance company 200 in order to install the electric facilities 110 manufactured by the electric manufacture 300 and the operation controller 130 in the building and to perform the fast maintenance, inspection and repairing of the electric facilities 110. Based on the contract with the owner of the building for maintenance, the facility maintenance company 200 installs the operation monitor device 120, to be connected to the communication network 40, in the building of the owner 100 and also installs the remote monitor device 210 in the facility maintenance company 200.
The operation controller 16 installed in the building of the owner 100 controls the entire operation of the electric facilities 110. The operation monitor device 120 always monitors the operation state of the electric facilities 110 controlled by the operation controller 130 and sends the monitor data items of the electric facilities 110 to the remote monitor device 210 installed in the facility maintenance company 200 through the communication network 40.
The remote monitor device 210 in the facility maintenance company 200 always monitors the monitor data items transmitted from the operation monitor device 120. When the monitor data items received exceed a corresponding predetermined normal range, the remote monitor device 210 generates and transmits abnormal information to the operation controller 130 through the communication network 40. Further, the remote monitor device 210 informs to the owner through the operation monitor device 120 a risk of occurrence of defects in the electric facilities 110 and the term to replace one or more system components forming the electric facilities 110 with new one.
Moreover, the facility maintenance company 200 settles the maintenance cost based on the contract and makes the inspection and repairing of the electric facilities 110 according to demand based on the monitor data items received by the remote monitor device 210, and if possible, settles the inspection and repairing cost from the owner 100 of the building.
Further, when the defect factor of the electric facilities 110 is unknown, the facility maintenance company 200 transmits the received monitor data items to the electric facility manufacture 300 in order to analyze the monitor data items by the manufacture 300. The electric facility manufacture 300 analyzes the monitor data items received, specifies a defect in the electric facilities 110 and reports the results of the analysis to the facility maintenance company 200. If possible, the electric facility manufacture 300 settles the analysis cost from the facility maintenance company 200.
Further, when the facility maintenance company 200 specifies the defect based on the monitor data items received by the remote monitor device 210, but cannot repair it, the facility maintenance company 200 offers the repairing to the electric facility manufacture 300. When receiving the offer for repairing, the electric facility manufacture 300 repairs the defect in the electric facilities 110 and settles the repairing cost from the owner 100 of the building, if possible.
There is an effective settlement method based on a contract for maintenance disclosed in the Japanese patent publication number 2001-222602, for example. This method uses a maintenance identifying number in a contract for maintenance. The document of the contract for the maintenance is sold to a user with the cost corresponding to the cost necessary for the maintenance. The facility maintenance company 200 performs the maintenance using a database of a maintenance contract management based on an offer card and the maintenance contract identifying number sent from the user.
Because the conventional facility management system has the configuration described above, the owner 100 of the building must install the dedicated operation monitor device 120 in the building in order to obtain the fast maintenance for the electric facilities 110 by the facility maintenance company 200. This causes the increasing of the cost to introduce the dedicated operation monitor device 120 and also occurs a drawback that the facility maintenance company 200 cannot perform the fast repairing according to the content of the defect.
Further, in order to provide the fast maintenance for the electric facilities 110 to the owner 100 of the building the facility maintenance company 200 must develop the dedicated operation monitor device 120 and the remote monitor device 210 for the maintenance of the electric facilities 110 and also must install the remote monitor device 210 in the facility maintenance company 200. This causes the increase of the costs for the product development and the introduction of the remote monitor device 210. Further, the facility maintenance company 200 offers the analysis of the monitor data items (as operation data items) to the electric facility manufacture 300 according to the contents of the defect in the electric facilities 110. This case cannot provide the fast maintenance to the owner 100 of the building.
In addition, the electric facility manufacture 300 cannot get continuous operation data items (as monitor data items) of the electric facilities 110, namely the manufacture 300 gets only a fragment of the operation data items). The manufacture 300 thereby cannot get the entire quality information on the market including the life cycle information of the electric facilities 110 manufactured and sold.
Accordingly, it is difficult that the manufacture 300 provides the fast maintenance and the manufacture's responsibility to the owner 100 of the building when the defect happens in the electric facilities. Furthermore, the manufacture 300 cannot improve the electric facilities in a future product development using the quality information on the market. Still further, the conventional facility maintenance system has a drawback that it is difficult for the electric facility manufacture 300 to settle the maintenance cost of the electric facilities 110 form the facility maintenance company 200 or the owner 100.
Under the management using the maintenance contract identifying number involved in the contract for maintenance disclosed in the Japanese patent laid-open publication number JP-2002-222602, the contract between the maintenance operator (namely, the facility maintenance company 200) and the beneficiary (namely, the owner 100) can be established. But, when the maintenance operator is different from the maintenance circumstance provider (such as the electric facility manufacture 300), it is difficult to suppress the use of the maintenance environment by the maintenance operator (namely, the facility maintenance company 200) without warning. For example, the conventional facility management system has a problem in which it is difficult to protect and keep the correct benefit for the maintenance cost, the repairing cost and the cost to provide various information supplied by the maintenance circumstance provider such as the electric facility manufacture 300.